This invention relates generally to prosthetic devices and, more specifically, to a prosthetic device for use immediately after a limb reduction surgery until the patient is fitted with a more permanent prosthesis.
Medical and technological inventions have provided significantly enhanced prosthetic devices for patients that have had limb reduction surgery. There is still a need, however, for a more effective immediate post-operative prosthesis that can be used by patients that have had an above-the-knee amputation surgery. Typically, after an above-the-knee amputation surgery, the patient is fitted with an immediate post-operative prosthesis that the patient uses to begin to learn to walk with the newly amputated limb.
A significant disadvantage associated with conventional immediate post-operative prosthetic devices is that they are functionally different from the more permanent prosthesis later provided to the patient. Conventional immediate post-operative prosthetic devices for above-the-knee amputation patients do not have a bendable knee joint, whereas permanent prosthetics have bendable knee joints. Therefore, shortly after surgery the patient begins to learn to walk with the reduced limb using a prosthetic device that is not the same as the patient will be provided on a more permanent basis at a later time. This presents certain difficulties including a tendency for the patient to develop an unnatural walking pattern or gait that can cause undue strain on the patient's hip joint. Further, the patient typically has to "re-learn" to walk with later-provided prosthetic devices, which include a temporary and definitive prosthetic that have a bendable knee joint.
Prior to this invention only the temporary and definitive prosthetics were provided with bendable knee joints. A more permanent prosthetic cannot be used in a post-operative setting because design criteria are different. For example, permanent prosthetics ideally provide total contact between the reduced limb and the prosthetic. Conversely, an immediate post-operative prosthetic preferably avoids contact between the end of the reduced limb and the prosthetic. Shortly after surgery, Edema is presented, the point of amputation is extremely sensitive and any contact with a prosthetic while walking would cause the patient to experience discomfort and could interfere with the healing process. Additionally, such contact could cause the suture line to separate causing undesirable drainage, which lengthens the healing process.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an immediate post-operative prosthetic device that is adaptable to be used with a bendable knee joint. This provides significant advantages in that the patient learns to walk with a more normal gait during rehabilitation immediately after the surgery, which avoids the patient developing bad gait patterns such as hip hiking, vaulting, or circumducting of the hip joint or prothesis. Accordingly, the risk of the patient developing a walking pattern that causes undue strain on the hip joint is reduced.